Page 15 of Love vs The Ooze Monster!
“Volstead has its share of gangsters.” Boyd allowed. “But, tommy guns are the weapon of choice, not chemicals.”
“Chemicals? Is that how they melted?”
“Theymelted? Jesus…” He shook his head in disgust. “Look, I don’t know what happened, exactly. My sources are saying something in the liquor killed everyone, though. And we used to supply O'Shaughnessy’s gin.”
Mabel was flabbergasted. “We haven’t dealt with him for months! And there’s certainly no poison in our product!” That rumor was a direct affront to her. She oversaw the recipes. “Some of the unprofessional outfits use wood alcohol, but I wouldneverdo that.”
Methanol was cheap, industrial-strength alcohol. It was used in solvents and cleaners. If you drank it, it would get you intoxicated quick enough… but it would also blind and/or kill you. Anyone cutting corners with wood alcohol was a flat out murderer. Even worse, they had no head for business! How could you have repeat customers, if they were all dead?
“I knowwedidn’t add poison to anything. But, we still need to investigate this. There’s always a chance O'Shaughnessy still had some bottles of our gin and someone spiked it. Maybe one of our competitors.” Boyd paused meaningfully. “Maybe your step-cousin.”
Her lips pressed together in sudden fury. Yes… she could see Sly doing something like that, just to spite her. “That duplicitous asshole.” She whispered.
Blue eyes gleamed at the swearing, like it amused him. “No one’s accused us, yet. But, we need to figure out what actually happened, before our name is sullied by this mess.” He persisted, sensing her indecision. “You and me, Mabel. It’sourproduct.”
And if it was being used to kill innocent people, she wanted to make sure she stopped it. …Also, a trail of bodies linked to her booze recipe would not help her land a new job. A girl had to besocareful of her reputation, on both sides of the law.
Mabel nodded. “Alright. I’ll help you.”
His expression flashed in masculine triumph.
“I’mnotcoming back to work, though.” She tacked on quickly. “This is just until we discover what’s happened. Tomorrow, I’m interviewing with Mr. Carmine and you will not say anything cross to him.” She jabbed a gloved finger at his chest. “I mean it.”
Boyd’s smile never wavered. “I promise, I won’t say a word to that heck-head.”
Chapter Four
Cast a kitten:- (1920s slang) Freaking the hell out at somebody
Mabel slammed out of her taxi cab, set to cast a kitten.
Boyd had been expecting it. He probably even deserved it. He’d known that his actions would piss her off, but what choice did he have? It wasn’t like he could let Wilson goddamn Carmine hire Mabel away. She wasBoyd’sbookkeeper and he intended to keep her.
“You dirty, rotten, lying sneak!” She stalked across the sidewalk, batting aside the hideous netting of her hideous black hat, so she could glower at him eye-to-eye.
Mabel was tall. He liked that in a woman. At least, he liked it in her. He barely recalled what he’d liked before she arrived in his life. Everything was Mabel, now.
“You seem upset.” He observed casually.
“Iamupset, as a matter of fact. I showed up for my interview today and learned that Mr. Carmine has disappeared off the face of the earth!”
Boyd was leaning against the side of the building, enjoying the shade. It was a warm afternoon, even for August. He tried to look suitably surprised by her shouted news. “Carmine’s missing?”
“Don’t give me that baloney. You knew he was gone!” She was in high dudgeon, elegant gloved fingers pointing at him in accusation. “Youpromisedyou’d stay away from him.”
“No, I never promised that.” He gave up his half-hearted attempts at playacting. “I promised I wouldn’t say a word to the man. And I didn’t.” Boyd gave a slow smile. “…I didn’t need to.”
Mabel didn’t appreciate his hair-splitting. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Where is he?”
Boyd looked off towards the harbor. “I guess that depends on the tides.”
“If you’ve killed him, I swear I will…” Mabel trailed off with an aggravated sound, too angry to think of a dire enough threat. One foot slammed on the ground in frustration. “Lew wascompletelywrong about you.”
“What did he say about me that was so wrong?”
“None of your business!”
Boyd arched a brow. “Lew liked me.” He guessed with a sense of pleasure. “Most people do.”
